The question of whether or not a child should stay home when they’re feeling under the weather inspires a lot of varying advice. According to an article recently published in NPR, rules in elementary schools about when to keep a sick child at home are more liberal than those in daycare centers. Also, surveyors of 1,442 parents with kids who are 6 to 18 years old found that parents had different attitudes about their children missing school based on their children’s age.

Some common reasons cited by parents for keeping their kids at home included: diarrhea, a single episode of vomiting or a slight fever. Interestingly, parents of older children were more likely to worry about their kids missing tests at school than parents of younger children did, suggesting that tests and exams might complicate the stay-at-home decision for parents when their children are sick. My own parents definitely also strictly adhered to the “No fever? No skipping” rule.

Another important factor parents consider is how contagious they perceive their children’s conditions to be. Evidence on how contagious kids can be are less definitive in older school children since they are usually not confined in a single space all day with ill classmates. For younger children who are in daycare all day, however, they may be prone to stomach bugs, ear infections, and colds than young children who stay at home.

Different daycare centers may also have varying suggestions for parents when it comes to children’s attendance. Some daycare facilities may have guidelines that recommend children to stay at home even though their rules don’t always align with pediatricians’ suggestions. This can be aggravating especially if parents cannot stay at home with their sick children, or cannot bring their kids with them to work.

Sick days are something we all experience at one point or another growing up. Since there is little uniformity about what symptoms are considered severe or contagious, it’s challenging to find or apply one suggestion to all parents or all students. Keeping an eye out for further research is probably the best thing to do as we continue to adhere to healthy behaviors such as washing our hands, staying hydrated, eating nutritious food, and getting plenty of exercise.